Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Benchmark Maintains "Hold" on Shell (NYSE:RDS-A), Marathon (NYSE:MRO)

The Benchmark Company said they've maintained their "Hold" ratings on Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS-A) and Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO).

For Shell, they based the decision on the "belief that the normalized earnings-multiple valuation currently in place is insufficiently excessive to warrant a more aggressively negative investment posture."

While they don't have a formal price target on Shell, they said they felt on a sector average normalized earnings multiple, fair value would probably be from $51 to $53 a share for the ADR.

Citing valuation challenges, the "Hold" rating on Marathon was reiterated, although Benchmark stated that against "a 'peer' group, which we readily acknowledge may not be applicable, the stock is trading at a sizable 40% normalized earnings-multiple discount."